Tuesday, June 25, 2013
C2.17 (Oudemanhuispoort)
This paper aims to assess the relation between labor market regulation - mainly represented by employment protection legislations (EPL) - and the opportunity to enter a job for unemployed or inactive people in European labor markets.
Based on ECHP and EU-SILC longitudinal data, covering the years 1994 to 2007, the paper investigates the impact of the deregulation "at the margins" that were implemented in European labor markets. The variation within and between countries in EPL levels and insider-outsider EPL gaps is used to test the integrative capacity of alternative marginal or inclusive- deregulation strategies. Particular attention is paid to the possible effect of institutionally driven LM segmentation, mirrored by national discrepancy in employment protections of workers with distinct contractual arrangements. In this regard, our results indicate that, if any, the effectiveness of the deregulation is weakened by labor market normative segmentation.
Moreover, by looking at short- and mid-term career prospects we assess the convenience of exiting unemployment by means of fixed term contracts rather than opting for longer off-the-job search strategies. The results suggest that FTCs play a significant role in reducing individual subsequent unemployment risks, while their integrative effect is hardly confirmed when considering temporary contracts as stepping stones towards stable employment. In this respect, initial advantages for FTC takers over job-seekers are indeed vanished in a relatively short time. Our results therefore problematize the effectiveness of the partial and targeted market deregulation and highlight its consequences in term of enhancing labor market segmentation and thus social inequality.
Based on ECHP and EU-SILC longitudinal data, covering the years 1994 to 2007, the paper investigates the impact of the deregulation "at the margins" that were implemented in European labor markets. The variation within and between countries in EPL levels and insider-outsider EPL gaps is used to test the integrative capacity of alternative marginal or inclusive- deregulation strategies. Particular attention is paid to the possible effect of institutionally driven LM segmentation, mirrored by national discrepancy in employment protections of workers with distinct contractual arrangements. In this regard, our results indicate that, if any, the effectiveness of the deregulation is weakened by labor market normative segmentation.
Moreover, by looking at short- and mid-term career prospects we assess the convenience of exiting unemployment by means of fixed term contracts rather than opting for longer off-the-job search strategies. The results suggest that FTCs play a significant role in reducing individual subsequent unemployment risks, while their integrative effect is hardly confirmed when considering temporary contracts as stepping stones towards stable employment. In this respect, initial advantages for FTC takers over job-seekers are indeed vanished in a relatively short time. Our results therefore problematize the effectiveness of the partial and targeted market deregulation and highlight its consequences in term of enhancing labor market segmentation and thus social inequality.
